Exhibits

What can I see? Over 1 million Ice Age fossils, from 650 species. From a Columbian Mammoth tusk to the tooth of a baby mouse.

Bison Bison antiquus is the most common large herbivore found in the tar pits. Bison migrated across the Bering Strait into North America about 220,000 years ago. The collections at the George C. Page Museum document the seasonal migration of Bison into the Los Angeles Basin with specimens representing age ranges of 2-4 months old, 14-16 months old, 28-30 months old and adults.
Camel The camel family was represented by two extinct species at Rancho La Brea. The larger and more common one, Camelops hesternus, stood more than 7 feet tall at the shoulder and was more closely related to llamas than to modern camels.
Condor The Extinct California Condor Gymnogyps amplus is the direct ancestor of the living California Condor, which is the largest bird of prey living in North America. Although condors have a scavenging lifestyle they are more closely related to storks than to the Old World Vultures.
Coyote The Pleistocene coyote Canis latrans was slightly larger than the modern representatives of this species. Coyotes are the third most common large animal found at Rancho La Brea. Like many of the smaller mammals, coyotes survived the end of Pleistocene extinctions.
Dire wolf Of the five dog species found at Rancho La Brea, the extinct dire wolf (Canis dirus) is by far the most common. Our skull wall displays over 400 dire wolf skulls from the tar pits, and these provide an interesting demonstration of differences in size and shape within a species.
Ground sloth Of the three species of ground sloth found at Rancho La Brea, Harlan's ground sloth (Paramylodon harlani) is the most commonly recovered. Related to modern tree sloths, armadillos and anteaters ground sloths migrated to North America from South America. Based on isotopic analyses Harlan's ground sloth was a mixed feeder, browsing on shrubs and grazing on grasses.
Horse Numerous remains of horses have been found at Rancho La Brea most of them belonging to Equus “occidentalis”, the extinct Western horse. Many of the specimens are from young animals. In adult specimens the males outnumber the females two to one.
Mammoth The Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) is the only species of mammoth found at Rancho La Brea. Most of the specimens were excavated from Pit 9 in 1914, including this composite skeleton that was originally mounted for the Hancock Hall at the Los Angeles County Museum.
Smilodon The extinct saber-toothed cat (Smilodon fatalis) is probably the most well-known species at Rancho La Brea, as well as being the California state fossil. Many saber-toothed cat fossils show evidence of healed injuries and diseases that would have otherwise crippled the animal. This suggests that they may have been social animals; living in groups that included old and infirm individuals.

And Don't Miss

Page Museum

Come inside the Page. It’s the only way to get to know all the creatures that we pull out of the tar pits!

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Tours: Inside and Out!

Every day, we feature free guided tours that explore the Page Museum and the park outside.

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Fishbowl Lab

Watch as paleontologists work on Ice Age fossils right before your eyes!

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